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34 min ago 3 min read
Industrial gas major Air Liquide has secured a four-year homecare contract in Spain’s Valencia region that will see it provide more than 90,000 respiratory patients with care supported by predictive AI monitoring.
The four-year contract was awarded by the Spanish autonomous regional government of Valencia, which is responsible for organising healthcare resources and designing the outsourcing of services.
Air Liquide’s solution includes personalised care plans with special monitoring that integrates predictive AI algorithms to identify high-risk sleep apnea patients.
The condition can be lethal and deprives the heart and brain of oxygen. According to research, this leads to an estimated 38,000 to 50,000 deaths from sleep-apnea-related complications each year.
Sleep apnea is often treated using compressed medical air, medical-grade oxygen, or specialised gas mixtures.
These gases are delivered through non-invasive positive airway pressure machines to keep the airway open and stabilise breathing during sleep.
“By leveraging pioneering AI solutions, we contribute to design efficient and streamlined care pathways that aim to deliver the best outcomes,” said Diana Schillag, member of Air Liquide’s Executive Committee, overseeing Healthcare.
According to the company, its teams prioritise non-compliant patients – those who may not follow a prescribed treatment plan – and adapt intervention efforts alongside physicians.
In simple terms, AI algorithms analyse data from a patient’s breathing machine to figure out if they are likely to stop using their therapy.
If the AI flags a high risk of someone giving up, healthcare teams can step in early with custom support to help the patient.
“[This can] help reduce administrative burdens, improve operational performance, and, most importantly, save valuable time for both patients and doctors,” added Schillag.
The homecare solutions also include MaskMate, an Air Liquide app for personalised mask selection in addition to specific clinical protocols for high-risk conditions like obesity hypoventilation syndrome.
The deal builds on a similar contract signed between Air Liquide and the Community of Madrid to provide home care for 70,000 patients suffering from respiratory diseases.
That same year, Air Liquide’s Home Healthcare business was strengthened outside of Spain through the of two residential intensive care companies in Germany.
